A Texas pharmacy owner and three pharmacists were sentenced in Houston for unlawfully distributing more than half a million opioid pills and other commonly abused prescription drugs, including to individuals paid to pose as patients by black market drug traffickers.
Arthur Billings, 61, of Missouri City, a pharmacy owner and pharmacist, was sentenced today to 12 years in prison and a $2.6 million forfeiture order. On Aug. 26, 2022, Billings pleaded guilty to a four-year conspiracy to unlawfully distribute and dispense hydrocodone and oxycodone and making false statements in an application for disability benefits. According to court documents, Billings was the owner, operator, and pharmacist-in-charge of Health Fit Pharmacy (Health Fit), a cash-only pill-mill pharmacy. In exchange for hundreds of dollars per prescription, Health Fit dispensed controlled substances to individuals sent by drug traffickers to pose as patients. The drug traffickers provided the funding for the pills then sold the drugs on the black market. The prescriptions used to obtain the drugs from Health Fit were often fraudulent, issued in the names of physicians whose identities were stolen. The pharmacy continued its illegal operation despite repeated warnings from the Texas State Board of Pharmacy, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
“While I served as the Attorney General of Florida, addressing the opioid crisis was one of my top priorities and remains a top priority at the Department of Justice today,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “The opioid crisis has taken hundreds of thousands of lives and destroyed countless American families. Our enforcement efforts aren’t limited to cartels and gangs: anyone in the medical profession who abuses their position of trust to deal deadly drugs will face severe consequences.”
Three of Billings’ co-conspirators, all of whom were Health Fit pharmacists in Houston, were also sentenced today.
“Billings and his co-conspirators brazenly operated a pill mill for years, selling dangerous narcotics to dealers through straw patients and fueling the opioid epidemic,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “The defendants ignored their obligations as pharmacists to care for their patients and instead profited from the illicit sale of highly addictive drugs. The Criminal Division is dedicated to investigating and prosecuting the gatekeepers in the health care industry who abuse positions of trust for personal gain.”
Deanna Winfield-Gates, 56, was sentenced to six years in prison and a $60,000 forfeiture order. On Sept. 13, 2023, Winfield-Gates was convicted by a federal jury of conspiracy to unlawfully distribute and dispense hydrocodone and oxycodone. According to court documents, Winfield-Gates was a relief pharmacist at Health Fit who dispensed over a half million pills of addictive and dangerous drugs, including hydrocodone and oxycodone, among others, often in combination, knowing these controlled substances were likely to be diverted or abused.
“Pharmacies exist to heal the sick, not to fuel addiction and line the pockets of drug traffickers,” said DEA Administrator Terrance Cole. “These defendants betrayed their communities by turning a pharmacy into a pill mill, flooding our streets with over half a million opioid pills, and leaving a trail of addiction, abuse, and tragedy. DEA remains steadfast in its commitment to bring to justice those responsible for the country’s opioid crisis.”
Jeremy Branch, 38, was sentenced today to 22 months in prison and a $68,931.44 forfeiture order. On Aug. 29, 2022, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to unlawfully distribute and dispense hydrocodone and oxycodone. According to court documents, Branch was the pharmacist-in-charge at Health Fit for much of 2017.
Frank Cooper, 55, was sentenced to 20 months in prison and a $5,000 forfeiture order. On Aug. 22, 2022, Cooper pleaded guilty to conspiracy to unlawfully distribute and dispense hydrocodone and oxycodone. According to court documents, Cooper was a relief pharmacist at Health Fit during the conspiracy.
The DEA investigated the case.
Trial Attorney Drew Pennebaker of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section prosecuted the case, with support from Paralegal Specialist Meghan Malinowski.
The Fraud Section leads the Criminal Division’s efforts to combat health care fraud through the Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program.
Since March 2007, this program, currently comprised of nine strike forces operating in 27 federal districts, has charged more than 5,800 defendants who collectively have billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $30 billion. In addition, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services, are taking steps to hold providers accountable for their involvement in health care fraud schemes.
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